BIKE CAMP: DAY 1

Last night, I ate dinner with Mohammad Ali. Or rather, he ate dinner at a table about 10 feet away. He hugged kids and signed autographs; it was way more heartwarming than I thought possible.

This morning, I arrived at bike camp. After spending a couple of hours putting my bike together (it survived!) and stallingstallingstalling, I went for my first ride. I rode 33 miles through the desert and ended up at Sagauro National Park. I didn't do the loop through the park, but the view from the top was pretty awesome.

I felt great on my bike. I had forgotten to eat lunch and was STARVING by mile 25, but other than that I felt solid and strong. Today's ride; however, was mostly flat with ideal weather conditions (aside from a bit of wind).

Tomorrow will be a different story. The weather is supposed to take a turn for the worse (40s and rainy), and we're climbing something like 3000 feet. Ugh.

But, after tomorrow the weather should be back to the Arizona norm of a cloudless 70 degrees. So, I'll make it through the day and it'll be easier from there on out.

Unfortunately (but for obvious reasons), I don't have my good camera with me (you can't exactly bike with a digital SLR), so the pictures leave a bit to be desired. I'm doing the best I can with my little point-and-shoot and hopefully there will be a significant learning curve and the pictures will get better as the week goes continues. Check out more pictures at www.curlysu.com.

IronMin is right; this is my week and my trip. I'm here, by myself, because I want to be. I arranged it, used all my savings to pay for it, and got myself here - because it's something I desire.

No more complaining. I'm ready.